Everything was very hot.
Painfully hot.
So hot that skin would sear and blood would vaporise, that eyes would melt away and fat would liquefy.
But Litvir was still standing there.
Unable to move.
Unable to see.
Unable to do anything but blindly experience the nuclear inferno surrounding them.
While the horrible heat surrounded Litvir, Litvir tried to work out what they did wrong. They had stayed at the boundaries that Epani had set. They had followed all the instructions. They had did everything they were told to do. Yet here Litvir was, in agony, trapped by the radioactive waves of agony. Setting off the nuclear weapons had caused the explosions, as planned, but a piece of debris, from the lead shell that had kept the Episkeft contained, had ricocheted away from the explosion and somehow managed to hit Litvir directly, piercing them through the stomach and pinning Litvir to the asteroid they had been sheltering on.
What made less sense though was how long this inferno was going on for. Litvir didn’t know much about nuclear explosions, but they did know that they didn’t last for over an hour. Sure, they had used a LOT of nuclear weapons (according to the others) but why was everything still burning? Why was it not stopping?
Litvir could at least telepathically hear others. They were trying to save them. But something was stopping them. A loop? Something repeating? Litvir wasn’t sure. All they were trying to do was stay awake, stay alive. Mostly via sheer force of will, because there wasn’t much else Litvir could do. The nuclear winds were pressing Litvir up against the rock. And they weren’t slowing down.
At least the pain had stopped. Litvir was certain Nanik was doing that. She could make it so people didn’t feel pain. But Litvir could sense something else. Anger. Rage. Confusion. More anger than Litvir expected.
Did the winds also slow down briefly? Something was trying to deflect them. They were changing direction a little. Was that Kohra doing that? Maybe Murum’Va was? Something was definitely happening, things were improving. At least, Litvir kept on telling themselves that.
Beneath all of it though, Litvir could sense an argument. Two people screaming at each other. Arguing about what to do.
The pain was back. It seemed to loop. It would stop and start again. Like the explosion. Litvir was pretty sure the explosion was looping. It occurred to Litvir that the scary white ball was making things loop and repeat. It had done that before. To Litvir in particular. Maybe this was some sort of revenge against Litvir, for trying to hurt it.
A roar was heard over the nuclear winds. A roar of fury. A roar so powerful that it was overcoming the fiery gales. In fact, things were cooling down.
“You little fucking idiot…”
Litvir recognised the annoyance and tone before they recognised the voice. A draconic claw held Litvir in place while another ripped the vast piece of lead shrapnel from Litvir’s stomach. Realising they were being saved, Litvir allowed themselves to go limp and be picked up. Kairos was not gentle at all, and basically chucked Litvir into some sort of strange sack, before unfurling his wings and, worryingly, carrying Litvir, sack and all, closer to the centre of the inferno.
Litvir had no idea what happened next. There was a lot of being flung around, and a lot of shouting and perhaps cursing in a language Litvir didn’t quite understand. It sounded like the language that Litvir sometimes caught Elkay speaking in, but more complicated and longer. And angrier.
There was another voice. That one belonged to Epani. And she had clearly snatched Litvir away from Kairos. Both of them were huge though. Litvir was not a small being, and they could fit neatly in the palm of Kairos’s hand. Epani’s hand was even bigger.
All of a sudden, the heat stopped. Everything stopped. The nuclear flames vanished. The pain was gone. The smell of burnt flesh and molten lead faded away. All that was left was a gentle, cooling breeze, followed by the familiar sound of something being thrown out of the universe. Litvir wondered for a moment if they had thrown Litvir out too, but that thought was brief. Mostly because Litvir could hear words they could recognise. Rather than questioning what was going on, Litvir decided to close what was left of their eyelids and just listen in. Or something. Really, Litvir had no clue what was happening and reality seemed as melty and liquid-y as their brain currently.
“You should have just let me fucking do this, Epani!”
“I didn’t want to let you near the Episkeft, the horrible creature that is literally here to feed on your time powers!”
“So you let the fucking children convince you to try and nuke it? The stupid ball that makes time loops?”
“Well, you offered no help what so ever!”
“You should have fucking run the idea past me! The Episkeft literally turned the nuclear explosion into a time loop in a bid to kill the retarded baby and save itself!”
“And what would you have done? You have not tried to help at all, and now you have exposed yourself to it!”
“It’s gone. It got the right idea and left and it won’t come back. Because I made it do so! Everything is fine apart from this little fucktard.”
There was a loud sigh. “You did not make things easy for me.”
“Neither did you. Now take that little bastard, fix up the nuclear mess here and leave the important time duties to me, because you can’t handle them. Not yet at least. Got it?”
“Fine.”
There was a flap of wings, which quickly faded away. Epani sighed to herself, then relaxed slightly as she glanced around. Despite the chaos and the pain, the plan had at least somewhat worked. The Episkeft was gone, and the hole it had left was sucking out the remaining radioactive winds. All Epani had to do was fix up the hole in the side of the universe, then fix up Litvir.
“Come along now, my dear. Everything will be alright. We did it.”
Litvir grunted as they found themselves able to move again. However, they didn’t have the strength to tell Epani how uneasy and concerned they felt, and the pain had returned, mostly as their injuries slowly began to heal up.
“Does not feel like we did it…” Litvir muttered as they finally passed out.